The girl who wants to see it all, and the boy who's seen too much
by fanoren
Summary: Jack is an emotionally scarred combat veteran who comes to Forget-Me-Not valley hoping for a quiet life. Much better than it sounds, I just suck at summaries. My first attempt at writing a non-action focused story.
1. the boy who's seen too much

It was a hot day. That was the thing about that day that jack remembered the most. He was a soldier in the US millitary serving his first tour of duty in afganistan. He sat in the passenger seat of an armored car, with most of the rest of his squad in the back. They were all good men. Each one had saved his life more than once and he'd returned the favor on a few occasions.

First up was the squad leader, Seargent Johnathan Norwood. He was a cool and collected veteran on his fifth tour. he often spoke of his wife and two young children at home. But his love of country led him to this job. Currently in his early thirties, he was a man with a bright future ahead of him in this career. Some whispers back at base said that he was up for promotion soon.

Next was the squad's medic, Nathan. Though he prefered to be called Nate. He usually had some kind of book in his hands when not on duty and didn't speak much, but everyone knew he was a good man at heart. He once gave away his day's rations to a family of refugees.

then there was "Redneck" nobody knew why he was called Redneck. Most likely it was because he was southern. Most people didn't know his real name, since he thought that being called solely by his nickname was pretty cool. A party guy at heart, Redneck was the one you asked to get you stuff that army regulations typically wouldn't allow in terms of hard alchohol and the like.

Sitting next to Jack in the front of the car, and driving it, was his squadmate and closest friend, Daniel. The two were close friends, having grown up together, and helping each other through life.

"Something wrong, Jack?" Daniel asked. Looking at his friend with concern before he turned his eyes back to the road. Jack looked up from the letter he had been reading.

"I don't really know."

"What's the letter say?"

"Dear mister Jack Mitchelson, It is with great regret that we inform you that your father has recently passed away." Jack began to read out loud.

"Your father?" Daniel asked. "The jackass who left you and your mom when you were like, what? three?"

"Yeah, but that's not all." Jack started to read again.

"Your father, Alexander Mitchelson, passed away two weeks ago from a heart condition. After the reading of his will, you have inherited all of his worldly possessions. Including a farm in Forget-Me-Not-Valley."

"Your dad was a farmer?" Daniel suddenly interupted. "That's a bit of a surprise."

"Yeah, but it seems he was dirt poor when he died." Jack said. "There's barely anything else on this list of things I've inherited."

"Well, this couldn't have come at a better time." Daniel said with a smile. "Today's your last day before you get to go home, lucky bastard." He lightly punched Jack's arm.

"You go home next week, I don't see how I'm the lucky one." Jack sighed. "I joined the millitary because I wanted more time to think about what I wanted to do with my life."

"You got nothing didn't you?"

"Not a clue."

"So maybe you should try farming? You've got the farm, so why not give it a try? If it doesn't work out, just sell the property and move on."

"The farm's in Japan." Daniel gave his close friend a wierd look.

"What was your dad doing way out there?"

"Not a clue. And that's just the thing." Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't know a thing about Japan. I go out there, I'll be walking blind."

"But there isn't much else you can do is there?" Daniel pointed ut. "You have no place to stay since your mom died. Where would you go until you got a job? and in the economy these days..."

"I'd probably be on the streets for a year or something. What about you?"

"Same boat as you, you know that."

"No, I mean, what if I did decide to go work on that farm? What would you do?"

"If you don't mind, I guess I could lend a hand or something?"

"The two of us working on a farm?"

"You got any other ideas? It'll be a roof over our heads and food in our guts. At least until what we figure out what we want to do with our lives." Jack thought about it for a while.

"I guess it makes sense." Jack nodded. "Okay, when we both get home we'll go check out this farm my dad left me."

(A year later)

Jack walked down the path leading to Forget-Me-not-valley alongside a man named Takakura. The man claimed to be an old friend of his father's.

"I'm surprised that you agreed to work the farm after so long. I thought you wouldn't be coming after the first few months." Takakura spoke in badly accented english.

"No, I planned to come all along. I also planned on bringing a close friend with me as well actually." Jack replied.

"He had other plans?" Jack turned his sad gaze down at his feet.

"I'd rather not talk about it." He said two of them continued down the path for a good few minutes in complete silence.

Takakura was a little concerned about his friend's son. He'd heard that he'd spent a few months in the psychiatric ward of a hospital soon after hearing about his father's death. He didn't know much about his old friend's family, but he did know that he hadn't been around enough for the kid to feel too attatched to his father. Something had happened back then, something really bad.

Before long, the duo reached the bottom of the hilly trail that was the only way into and out of the valley. They passed by a large farm, and a large woman working the fields noticed them.

"Oi! Takakura!" She called to the old man, getting his attention. She was speaking Japanese. "Is that the new farmer you got there with you?" Takakura was about to answer, but the American beat him to it.

"Yeah, my name's Jack, I'll be running the Forget Farm up the road starting tommorow." the brunett spoke fluently in Japanese. Much to Takakura's surprise. He thought he'd have to teach the boy. And he spent all that money on those English to Japanese dictionaries too... now what was he going to do with them?

"Great to meet ya!" The woman said with a smile on her face. "My name's Vesta, you ever need seeds or advice, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Thanks! Will do!" Jack turned back to the trail. "Something wrong?" He asked when he saw Takakura's expression.

"I didn't know you spoke Japanese."

"I had a lot of free time this past year. I once heard this joke, "What do you call a person who only speaks one language?""

"Monolingual?"

"Nope, American." He chuckled. "I didn't want to fit that stereotype, so I started learning soon after I learned of my inheritance."

"Hey, Takakura!" someone back at the farm yelled. "Who's the guy with you?" Marlin asked, having just emerged from the house. Celia was also with him.

"His name's Jack, and he's going to be running the other farm." Vesta explained.

"How've things been going on the farm?" Jack inquired.

"Yeah, like we'd tell our competition." Marlin scoffed. Vesta elbowed him in the gut.

"That was really rude Marlin!" She lectured, she turned back to Takakura and Jack. "Sorry about that! I'll make sure that he doesn't get any dinner for that comment!" She practically dragged the man back into the house to lecture him on proper manners.

"Terribly sorry about that!" Celia said and bowed politely in apology before getting to work on the fields.

"It's okay, don't worry about it!" Jack replied before resuming the walk with Takakura to his new farm just across a small river.

It was a nice looking farm. Three fields for crops, a barn for the animals to stay and a pasture for them to wander around when the weather was nice, plus there was a chicken coop and a food storage building.

Then there was his house. Jack wasn't too impressed with it to be completely honest. It mostly consisted of a single large room with a bed, a TV, a small kitchen, a small desk with a miror hanging over it, and a seperate bathroom. Jack barely opened the door before he began sketching out blueprints to expand his house more in a sketchbook he'd bought before coming here. Thank God he'd taken those carpentry and architecture classes in high school.

"How about we go introduce you to some of the locals?" Takakura suggested after he finished giving Jack the tour of his farm. "I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Jack sighed and set aside his sketchbook on the desk.

"Sure. I'll just get to work on ideas for the house later then." He followed Taakura out the door and down into the town.

The first people they bumped into were an elderly couple out for a stroll. Because the sun was already starting to set and they were just starting their tour of the village, Takakura and Jack just introduced the new farmer to them before moving on.

They had barely said their goodbyes to Nina and Galen when the duo stopped in front of a small hotel. Takakura called over the owners, Tim and Ruby as well as their son Rock and introduced them to the new farmer. Said man's only thought in his head was how two people with jet-black hair could have a blond kid.

Up next was undoubtedly Jack's favorite place in his new village so far: The Blue Bar. He thought the owner, Griffin, was a pretty cool guy. The girl Muffy on the other hand... he'd bet all the money he had that she was one of those annoying girls that cared more about boys and their own appearance than anything else. Seeing as his bank account only had fifty bucks in it, it wouldn't be much of a devastating blow.

Next, there were the firework twins. Jack couldn't help but think Redneck would have loved their merchandise and planned on sending the explosive-enthusiast party animal a package of the stuff when he could afford it.

Then they bumped into a man in a white lab coat who was muttering things to himself. He didn't even notice when they spoke to him. He just continued down the road muttering about his latest theories... and a gorrilla.

The next group of people they came across was a couple with a young boy. The father and his son were dressed for a jog. The two males demanded that Jack join them for their morning run tommorow, which he politely turned down.

When they got to the villa on the edge of the village, Jack couldn't help but be a little impressed with the place. IT WAS HUGE! The owner, an elderly woman named Romana, just gave Jack the feeling that she was saying "I'm rich and that makes me better than you" with every word that came out of her mouth. Then again, it could just be that he didn't like rich people. After all, most rich people where he came from were either snobs, idiots, or both.

Her butler and granddaughter were both kind to him, but for the life of him, he couldn't bring himself to really take them seriously. Maybe if he met them in town and not in front of the HUGE MANSION.

The sun had set, and it was quickly getting dark, so Takakura decided to finish the rest of the tour in the morning. It had been a long tiring day for Jack, so he didn't object. He just wanted to get some sleep.

Takakura had entered his house, and Jack was about to do the same when a tiny voice caught his attention.

"Who is it? Who is it?"

"I don't know!" Another voice answered. "There aren't any other harvest sprites other than us!" The former soldier looked around, and unsurprisingly, didn't see anyone.

"Those quacks give me the wrong meds or something?" He wondered, grabbing a pill bottle out of his pocket and examining the side effects.

"Down here!" Said a third voice. Jack did so, and was surprised to find three tiny people looking things. they each wore a different colored jacket, blue, red, and yellow.

"I'm Nic!"

"I'm Nak!"

"I'm Flack!"

"Did I grab somebody else's medication by mistake?" He still wondered aloud

"What's your name?" One of the tree creatures asked.

"Jack." He replied. Still looking at his medication.

"Ah, I see. It's the harvest sprite named Jack!"

"...I really need some sleep." The farmer walked into his new house without another word.

* * *

"The two of us working on a farm?" Jack heard himself say. It was this dream again. Another dream about the day when everything went wrong.

"You got any other ideas?" Daniel asked. "It'll be a roof over our heads and food in our guts. At least until what we figure out what we want to do with our lives." Jack wanted to shout out a warning to his friend, but anything he tried to say died in his throat. He heard the next words come out of his mouth.

"I guess it makes sense." he nodded. "Okay, when we both get home we'll go check out this farm my dad left me."

"Sounds like a-" Before Daniel could finish his sentence, a deafening explosion went off directly under their vehicle. The armored car flew a few feet off the ground and smashed into the ground upside down.

* * *

Jack woke up, shaking, panting and drenched in his sweat.

"It was only a dream. It was only a dream." He chanted until his breathing came back under control and he was no longer shaking.

Checking his watch, he noticed that it was 11:16. He'd barely gotten three hours of sleep before the nightmares reared their ugly heads. He reached for his pill bottle and swallowed dry two of the contents. He got up and got dressed. He desperately needed some fresh air to clear his head.

The valley was quite peaceful at night. Nothing made any noise except for the insects, and the view of the stars out here was just downright jaw-dropping. He spent nearly an hour wandering the valley, just now starting to notice and appreciate the beauty around him. Though, he had to admit, his favorite spot was right along the beach. Where the sound of the ocean crashing into the shore and the noises of the insects created a harmonious symphony he knew he'd never find anywhere else in the world.

Eventually, his legs got tired, so he sat down and enjoyed the view. Turns out, he was so distracted by his new discovery that he didn't realize he wasn't alone.

"Do I know you?" Asked a redheaded girl he had sat down next to without noticing. She wore a blue button down shirt with an orange t-shirt under it, and khaki shorts. Her deep blue eyes were filled with annoyance. In her hands were a large notebook and a pencil.

"Nope." Jack answered oddly cheerfully. "I don't think you do."

"Then can you get away from me? That look on your face is kinda scaring me."

"Oh, really?" The man asked, not knowing he'd been smiling like an idiot. "Then how's this?!" He showed her the creepiest smile he could manage to conjure up.

SMACK!

The Rehead smashed her very thick notebook into his face.

"Owwww!" Jack cried.

"And I thought Rock was annoying." She stood up and went home, leaving the combat veteran on the ground, groaning in pain.

"This is why I hate my meds, they make me all giddy for no reason." Jack muttered to himself as he got back to his feet. "On top of that, they make me halucinate. And now I'm talking to myself. Shut up and go home." And that is exactly what he did.

* * *

A/N: There we go! Chapter 1 is done! I'm probably going to come back later and rewrite a few things, but meh, not now.

So, I've been writing a long time, but my biggest problem is my dialouge, and such. Yes, I know it, you don't have to tell me. This is actually the reason I'm writing this in the first place. After all, practice makes perfect! I've already got this massive project underway, but I figured I'd try a little side project, and since my main project gets a new chap maybe once a month, it'll be a while before this story really gets rolling.

Anyway, it's almost 1:30 AM and I act drunkk when I get tired, so I'm gonna submit this and go to sleep before I say/do something wierd.

I do not own anything in this story!


	2. First Incident

Most of the rest of Jack's first week in the valley was spent meeting his new neighbors and learning from Takakura how to run a farm. Mostly the latter. They'd covered pretty much everything about crops and Jack was even putting what he learned to the test with a small crop of tomatos and watermelons. They did have a single cow, which Jack had named Mira, after a character in a book he read a long time ago. Jack's lessons on caring for the animals had also started, and that's when Jack's first "Incident" happened.

"Where are we going, Takakura?" Jack asked. The duo were passing by Vesta's farm, on the trail out of the village. It was still early in the morning, the sun was barely up, and Vesta's farmhands were all still asleep, leaving the job of tending the crops to the owner, who always got up freakishly early for some reason.

"Just outside the valley is a place called Mineral town." The older farmer explained. "They have a shipping company there that deals with the local farmers. They ship our produce to the cities and sell it there. That's how your father and I kept this place running since there isn't much demand for our products around here."

"That still doesn't explain where we're going."

"I want you to learn how to make deals with this company, since our income relies on making the right deals. I have an appointment with them today about my last harvest, I want you to watch and take notes."

"Can't you just handle that stuff?"

"Your father died last year, he was just a few years older than me. If that happens to me before you learn how to do this, how are you going to make any money?"

"I'll still be able to put food on the table."

"Yes, but what about things like electricity, heating, and water? How are you going to pay for that? With Tomatos?"

"Point taken."

The two continued down the path until they were at the base of the hilly trail that led out of the valley. Unlike the day that Jack arrived, it was a windy day. The wind was howling like a banshee, and it became louder the closer they got to it.

Takakura started the treck up the trail, not noticing that the young man standing next to him slowed and started trembling as they approached. To Jack, the howling wind sounded like something that plagued his nightmares for almost a year: a woman screaming.

He felt his breath become shallow and ragged, his heart was racing, his eyes widened in shock.

"Not now." He desperately pleaded. His voice was as quiet as a whisper. "Not here."

"Jack? You say something?" Asked Takakura. He turned around, and only now realized Jack's condition.

"Dammit! Dammit!" The younger farmer kept muttering over and over. "The Docs said this wouldn't happen while I was taking their meds!" His eyes went wide, his entire body was shaking, his blood had gone cold, adrenaline pumping throughout his entire body. It all ended with a scream of terror, his terror. Jack lost all strength in his legs. He fell to the ground and started rolling down the hill. A terrified and shouting Takakura ran down the hill after him. It was too late. Even before he had hit the ground, Jack was no longer in Forget-Me-Not valley, and no longer in Japan. He was back to the day that sealed the fates of him and eleven other soldiers he once called friends.

* * *

A loud bang sounded from the barrels of multiple rifles raised in salute of a fallen warrior. Jack was holding one, so were Daniel, Redneck, and Nate. John had died in the explosion of their vehicle almost a week ago. Miraculously though, nobody else was hurt. His former squad was at their leader's funeral. Jack saw John's wife and children for the first in the crowd of mourners. The mother was sobbing when she was handed the American flag. The symbol of the country her husband, and father of her children died to protect. He couldn't take it, he looked away. The woman fell to her knees, wailing with grief. Her scared children at her sides.

"The boys really do look a lot like him." Nate noticed. "How old did he say they were?"

"Two and four." Daniel answered. "The oldest is starting school next year."

"That's sad." Redneck said. "I wonder if they'll even remember him when they get older?" Jack closed his eyes, fighting back tears for the man that had been his father figure since he joined the military.

"I didn't sign up for this." He muttered.

"None of us did." Nate told him. "This isn't the first time I lost a friend, it won't be the last. Next time, it might be me in that coffin, or it might be you. Don't like it one bit, but it comes with the job. We gotta suck it up and move on."

"Jackie and Dan don't." Redneck piped in. "They're going to be taking over that farm in Japan."

"Yeah…" Jack said halfheartedly. If he was completely honest, he didn't want to leave his friends, not like this. He didn't want his last memories of Nate or Redneck to be the ones he made here. Not when they had gone through such a tragedy. He took one last look at the crying widow, lowered his hat to cover his eyes and prayed nobody saw him cry. He didn't know that the rest of his squad had done the same.

After the funeral, the boys went down to a local bar.

"To Jonny!" Redneck declared, raising his already half-empty glass.

"To John!" The three other survivors agreed. The four squadmates downed their drinks simultaneously, and began reminiscing about their fallen commander.

There was that time when he found Redneck's secret stash of fireworks, when Redneck glued all of Nate's books together, when Redneck's Heavy metal music woke an old General and John had to knock some sense into the demolitions expert… literally.

But not all the stories involved Redneck getting into trouble, in fact, Jack's favorite memory of the man was when he and Dan showed up at camp for the first time. The man did everything Jack could have asked for to make sure the new guys were comfortable and at home in the base that would be their home for the next six months. None of them could have guessed that John would be killed just mere hours before they would all have been going home. It just wasn't fair. John had a family waiting for him, Jack didn't, why couldn't it have been him instead?

"Gentlemen?" A man in military dress uniform interrupted Dan's story about a puppy he'd found with their commander. The four men sitting at the table glared at him like he'd just kicked said puppy. Just looking at him, they knew he was one of the higher ups. Maybe an Intelligence officer, whose lack of information on the road they had been driving down had cost them a friend.

"What do you want?" Redneck sneered into his beer. "We're off duty, can't this wait?"

"No." The officer answered. "Come with me." He turned and walked to the door. Redneck and Nate rolled their eyes and went back to their booze. "NOW!" The other patrons of the bar flinched at the sudden barked command and looked on, trying to figure out what the trouble was. Nate glared at him, Redneck ignored him. Dan and Jack on the other hand were starting to wonder what it was that the officer wanted.

His face twisted with anger, the man marched back to the table and wrenched Redneck's face out of his mug.

"Get out of here, brass boy." The southern man spat in the officer's face. "Nobody wants you here."

"I'm not here because I want to be either!" He said. "I'm here because my superiors thought you might want…" He suddenly realized that the entire bar was now looking at them. He dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and slammed it onto the table. "Read this. I'm sure you'll come find me once you see what our superiors are up to." With that he stormed out. Dan snatched up the paper and looked at it curiously, the rest of his team watching for his reaction. After a few seconds, Dan passed the paper to Nate, stood up and ran after the officer without saying a word. Nate and Redneck also went after him after reading the note, and Jack finally got to see what was written on the thing for himself.

_"Johnathan was killed by a militia group known as "Destiny's warriors", we in the intelligence department have been trying to request your squad to eliminate them for nearly a month. Our request was finally approved the day of the seargent's death. If you agree to go on this mission, you will be sent to Afganistan for another tour of duty, but you will also have the chance to avenge him. After reading this, destroy it."_

Jack shoved the paper into his pocket. He'd burn it later, but his friends were already out of sight. If he wanted to catch up to them, he had to move fast.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes to find himself back in his own bed in Forget-Me-Not valley. Judging by the bright orange sky he could see out his window, it was getting late.

"Oh, you're up!" Said a feminine voice coming from the direction of his desk.

Moving his head made him feel like his cow had kicked it, but he still did it. Sitting at his desk was Celia.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting here." She said. "There's just no other chairs in this place."

"Yeah, I know." He said, trying to sit up. Every muscle in his body ached, but he ignored it. "So, what happened? I remember that I was walking up the trail with Takakura and then…"

"Yeah, I was wondering that myself. I saw you roll down the hill as I was working on the farm. You were screaming and Takakura was chasing after you. It was actually pretty frightening."

"I can imagine." He chuckled. Imagining what she was describing. To him, it actually looked pretty funny, but then again, he wasn't there when it happened. He wasn't suddenly torn away from the usual day-to-day by a grown man's scream. "Where is the old guy anyway?"

"He said he had some business to take care of in town and asked me to look after you until he came back."

"Thanks, sorry to trouble you."

"No, not at all, is there anything else I can do for you?" Jack rolled out of bed and stretched his aching muscles. He'd been sore ever since Takakura had put him to work in the fields, but it was nothing compared to boot camp.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good." He said to her. "I think this is the first time we actually talked isn't it?"

"Yeah, I think it is." She said. "I remember you came down to the farm once to talk to Vesta, but we really haven't seen much of one another have we?"

"We should probably fix that since we're practically neighbors now. Let's meet up at the blue bar sometime." Celia nodded in agreement.

"I'd like that." Jack smiled to himself.

"So, since I'm up, you probably have to get back to work. Want me to walk you back?"

"No thanks, I can make it by myself, and I think you should rest after what happened." He shrugged.

"If you say so. I've been wanting to check up on my tomatos anyway." The girl giggled.

"They're not going to grow overnight you know."

"Yeah, I know, but it's just so exciting. It feels like I'm watching my new life grow out of that dirt in the form of red fruit."

"I know what you mean, that's how I felt when I saw my first crop grow." She shook her head. "Anyway, I gotta go before I get sucked into another conversation." She turned away and made for the door. She had her hand on the knob when she looked back at him. "If you don't mind me asking. What happened?" With those two words, Jack's mood took a nosedive. He hung his head low, and the atmosphere in the room just made everything look dimmer.

"An unwanted souvenir from my days in the military." He stated. Celia's eyes widened as she realized the proverbial land mine she had just stepped on.

"I'm so sorry I-" She began, but the vet interrupted her.

"It's okay, you didn't know." He assured her. Even now, old memories were floating to the surface. Bad memories. "Please, just leave me alone for a while." His voice was shaking, he couldn't tell if he sounded like he was going to cry or yell at her, but she was a smart girl, she was gone before he finished his sentence. She left the door open, so he calmly walked over and closed it. Then the tears began to well up in his eyes. His thoughts turning back to his memories, back to his own private hell.

* * *

A/N: So there we go! Chapter 2! I figured two months was long enough to put off… I mean work on this thing. I personally feel like it's not nearly as good as my first one, but oh well. It's mostly so I can get the plot rolling. Anyway, I would like to thank the people who reviewed, as you are the first two to review ANYTHING I have written on this site.

Anyway, Praise be to the holy log! (Don't ask, I lost a bet.)


	3. The day after, part 1

One of the things Jack hadn't liked about the military is how early he had to wake up. He was not a morning person. His brain was never fully functional until at least 11 in the morning. So when he was woken up the day after his first "incident" at 8am by rapid fire knocks on his door, he was not a happy man in the least.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He shouted at the offending door. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the person on the other side from knocking. Grumbling to himself, Jack got out of his bed and swung open the door. He was greeted by a dumb smile and blonde hair. "What the hell do you want?!" Jack yelled in Rock's face. The young man was utterly unaffected or oblivious to Jack's mood.

"Hey, man. I was hoping I could convince you to let me use your barn for a party next week?" Jack didn't even dignify the loud and obnoxious teen with an answer. He just slammed the door in his face and went back to bed. "Is that a yes?" He still heard Rock ask through his wooden walls.

"Note to self: when I remodel the place, be sure to add soundproofing so I don't have to deal with this ever again." His eyes were closed for about ten seconds before he fell asleep. However, Rock suddenly wasn't the only one outside his door.

"Oh, hey! Takakura! What's up man?"

"Rock? What are you doing here so early?" Takakura's voice joined in.

"I was hoping to get Jack's permission to use his barn for a party next week."

"At 8 o'clock?"

"Thought he'd be up."

"Let me tell you something kid, Jack is not a morning person and he was in the military-"

"Cool! Think he'd tell me any stories of the top secret missions he's been on?"

"My point is that he's a trained killer and you just annoyed him."

"Oh… I think I'll go now."

"Good idea." Soon enough there was knocking at Jack's door yet again.

"Rock! Just go home!" The door opened, and his father's old friend walked in.

"I don't think I'm an annoying blonde kid with too much time on my hands." Jack looked up from his pillow.

"Give me a break, its too early for me to start thinking." Takakura pulled out the chair at his desk and sat down.

"Then I guess it's too early to talk about what happened yesterday?" THAT woke him up.

"Ugh." Jack moaned, sitting up in his bed. "The wind. It sounded so much like something I wish I could forget. Threw me into a flashback. Speaking of which…" Jack reached over to his bottle of pills placed neatly on his desk and popped two in his mouth.

"You been having nightmares again?" Takakura asked. Jack swallowed his meds and nodded.

"If reliving my last mission and everyone who died looks like half their face had rotted away counts as a nightmare." The young man said bitterly. "So what exactly about yesterday did you want to talk about? I'm not talking about what happened to me during the war." Takakura sighed. He'd been trying to get the kid to open up about that ever since he got here.

"You said the wind triggered your flashback, right? It's almost always windy up there, so I'm pretty sure you won't be leaving the valley any time soon. Which means you can't attend any of those meetings with the shipping company in Mineral town."

"Which means you are gonna have to deal with those instead." Jack added in. "At least, until the wind stops triggering flashbacks, which I highly doubt that will ever stop. Or we hire somebody to go to these meetings for me."

"Then I guess we'd better start looking for someone then. I'll let you have the final say since this is technically your farm."

"Oh goody, more work."

"Speaking of work, Mira's not going to take care of herself." Takakura said with a slight smirk. "Neither are those precious tomatos and watermelons of yours."

"Damn you, sarcasm." Jack muttered as he stood up.

"I'll be waiting for you in the barn." Takakura said to him, and walked outside, leaving Jack to get ready for the day.

* * *

About the same time, a familiar redhead was sitting on the riverbank with her feet dangling over the water. Behind her, a middle-aged man emerged from the tent he'd been living in since he came to this valley. His name was Carter, the professor in charge of the archeological dig in the valley.

"Oh, hello Nami." Carter said to her.

"Hey carter, find anything interesting at the dig yesterday?" Nami asked Carter.

"No, sadly." Carter said. "I thought Flora had found something that could prove my theories about an ancient civilization this valley, but sadly it turned out to be a goat statue."

"Mind if I have a look at it?" She asked.

"The statue?"

"What else?"

"Sorry, Nami, Its important to my research. It may not have been what I was looking for, but it might give me a clue as to where to look."

"I'm not asking to take it home, I'm asking if I can see it."

"Hmmm, maybe. Why do you want to see it?"

"Secret." She stated matter-of-factly. Carter took a moment to think about it.

"Fine." He shrugged. "Couldn't hurt." He ushered her into his tent, which was full of old artifacts he had recovered from the site, and the sleeping cots for both him and his assistant. "Now, where did I put it?" He moved over to a shelf of objects. Nami took this moment to grab her small notebook and a few pencils from her back pocket.

"Found it!" Carter announced. He took a red clay statue off the shelf and showed it to the young woman. It was worn and broken in some areas, but remarkably intact for something so old. "As said earlier, I originally thought it belonged to the ancient civilization I believe lived in this valley nearly five thousand years ago. Then I noticed this here." He pointed to a wavy pattern along the edges of the statue that was barely noticeable due to erosion. "This pattern was commonly used by the seafaring inhabitants of southern Kyushu, and it made me realize that I was mistaken."

Nami listened silently while sketching the priceless artifact Carter held in his hand. Paying particular detail to the pattern that he had pointed out. It took her a couple minutes, but she had drawn a detailed sketch of the statue. Carter looked at it as she was finishing up.

"Wow, that's really good. You ever think about selling your sketches?" He asked.

"I'm not that good." Nami replied. She quickly finished up most of the minor details of the statue sketch and closed her notebook. "Thanks for letting me see it." With that, the redheaded woman walked out of the tent and was on her way to her next destination, wherever that may be.

However, on her way there, she just happened to glance between a patch of trees and saw Jack working in his fields… shirtless. While he wasn't as muscular or bulky as most men in the military, his body was obviously built for endurance. You had to be to carry more than one hundred pounds of armor, weapons, and gear for twenty miles a day through harsh desert as part of training.

Nami was frozen to the spot, unable to take her eyes off him. But it wasn't his muscles or body that she found so fascinating. Just under his left shoulder was a hole-shaped massive scar. On his right arm was a vertical line along his bicep. Just under his belly was another hole scar, not nearly as big as the one under his shoulder, but obviously from a similar injury. Many other scars decorated his body as small pinkish blemishes against his otherwise tanned skin. These were what caught her attention. A thousand questions shot through her mind.

_Who was this guy exactly? How did he get those scars? What the hell did he go through? What could have made those scars?_ To name but a few.

"Hey! My face is up here!" the target of her thoughts called over to her, and snapping her out of her thoughts. She quickly ran out of sight of the new farmer before returning to her thoughts. Maybe this guy was more interesting than she first thought?

* * *

"Who was that girl?" Jack wondered after the mysterious redhead ran off. Takakura chuckled and went back to his own work. Until Jack learned the ropes of farm working, He would have to earn most of their money.

"The redhead?" He mused. "Her name's Nami. She's a traveler, rented a room at the inn about two weeks before you got here. Not much of a people person from what I gather, but then again, neither am I."

"Wonder why she was staring at me?" The older mentor laughed.

"You aren't wearing a shirt."

"Well excuse me, it's hot out!"

"It's early spring and the guy who spent a year in the desert is complaining about the heat?"

"Hey, I've been away from that desert for months! My heat tolerance isn't as good as it used to be."

"Whatever, my point is that you are buff, and girls usually do like buff, sweaty guys. She probably liked what she saw and stopped to check you out."

"Really?" The young man sounded annoyed.

"You don't sound too happy about it. You're not…"

"OH HELL NO!" Jack yelled, knowing exactly what the older man was about to suggest. "I like girls, I'm just the odd guy who's more attracted to a girl's personality than their body. Sometimes, I don't even notice if they're hot or not until I get to know them." Takakura looked at his dead friend's son. Maybe now was the time to tell him?

"Hey, since we seem to be on the topic, are there any girls in the village who've caught your eye?" Jack shook his head.

"Not yet at least."

"What about that girl Celia? She was the one who took care of you after what happened yesterday."

"Ugh, don't even remind me about that. I'm pretty sure I scared her off."

"She was actually really concerned about you. When I got back from the meeting around sundown, she came running to find me and let me know you suffered a relapse."

"Well ain't that sweet of her." Jack sighed. "Sadly, I don't think she's someone I can see myself with."

"Oh, why not?" The younger farmer remained silent for a good few minutes.

"I'd rather not say. But I gotta wonder, why bring this up all of a sudden? You were so determined to make me focus on the farm and now you suddenly want me to find a girlfriend?" Now it was Takakura's time to sigh. This wasn't going to end well.

"It was your father's dream to have a family on the farm-"

"So that's it." Jack sneered. "He couldn't live his dream, so you want me to do it for him. Let me tell you this; my old man's dreams died with him. If I do have a family here, it'll be because It's now my dream, not because I inherited it from of my prick of a deadbeat father." Jack's eyes glared with such fury that Takakura had never seen. Yet, the man's voice was chillingly calm. Cold, even. Sure, he knew it before, but this was the moment that Takakura realized that Jack truly was the trained killing machine the military had wanted him to be.

He may be a farmer now, but Jack still possessed that killer's instinct that had been drilled into him so long ago. _"If only you could have seen what your leaving has done to your son." _Takakura thought. _"Or maybe you already knew, and you left him the farm and this chance at a new life as an apology?"_

"I'm going to take care of Mira." Jack said, his voice still cold as ice. "Then I'm going to do some exploring around the village. Maybe check out that forest on the edge of myproperty." Putting emphasis on the word "My" to remind the older farmer that this was now Jack's farm, not his father's. Not a word was said by either farmer as Jack set off to accomplish what he just declared he was going to do. Takakura hung his head as he got back to work.

"I messed up." He muttered to himself.

* * *

A/N: So, Nami shows up again, and we get to see a bit more of how badly screwed with Jack is.

I actually wasn't planning on updating this quickly, but this story seems to have gotten pretty popular compared to everything else I've written. It's at 101 views last I checked and already has more alerts and reviews than my main story which has been out for even longer and has three times as many views.

Anyway, my biggest problem with writing is coming up with names and random characters. If anybody is interested, I am thinking about accepting submissions for characters in Jack's military past. If you want to, you can PM me a character profile. It's not really necessary, but I'm lazy and I got a summer internship (Paid!) that eats away at my writing and brainstorming time.

Praise the holy log! (Yes I am going to be doing this at the end of every chapter. Blame Third Fang for winning the bet and then read his fic "Yet Again With a Little Extra Help" if you are a Naruto fan. It is hillarious, awesome, and jaw-dropping.)

I don't own any characters from Harvest Moon!


	4. The day after, part 2

Jack sat on the edge of a small pond in the middle of a forest. His eyes were closed, and in his hand was a small photo of himself, Nate, Daniel, Redneck, and John standing in front of a shooting range. It was a picture they'd taken after their first mission together.

He knew he was being a jerk to Takakura, but he really couldn't help it. Why did the man think that he'd want the same thing as his dead asshole of a father? And to be completely honest, he felt a little hurt. His father wanted a family on the farm? What? Was the family he already had not good enough for him?

He shook his head and got back to his feet. Dwelling on those thoughts would only lead him deeper into his depression. He got his point across to Takakura, now it was time to get back to work. He strode down the path, pausing for a few seconds every time he came upon one of the giant blue flowers that gave off a faint glow at night. He always wondered how those things worked.

He was just about to leave the woods when he heard a faint whimpering from a bush at his feet. He stopped in his tracks, intrigued by the sound, he bent down and swept aside some branches. He found a Black Labrador puppy lying on its side hidden in the bush. The tiny animal looked up, staring into Jack's chocolate brown eyes. It was clearly terrified. It tried to get up to run away, but it's front right paw was bloody, and broken.

"Max?" Jack whispered in disbelief. It couldn't be possible. And it wasn't. Max had green eyes, this puppy had brown eyes, much like his own. "Hey," He softly whispered to the injured dog. It looked back at him and… well, they don't call it "Puppy dog eyes" for no reason. In that moment, Jack knew that he wouldn't be getting back to work for a while.

He whispered soft encouragements to the scared pup for about ten minutes, just letting it know he wasn't going to hurt it. Eventualy, the pup got the idea and stopped trying to get away from him. Which chances were, it would have just injured itself further. He snapped off one of the bush's thicker branches, pulled out his old combat knife from his boot, and cut off the parts he didn't need. Then he sliced off parts of his shirt's sleeves before putting away his knife. He used these things to make a makeshift splint for the broken leg.

"You okay?" He asked the pup softly as the animal tried to use its leg again. Thanks to the splint, it was limping, but at least it looked to be okay. "How'd you get here?" All he got in response was a wagging tail, but then again, what was he expecting? He whistled to the dog, and motioned for it to follow him as he headed back down the trail into town. The puppy limped along after him.

* * *

Jack and his new friend's first stop was the farm. It was the closest place to the woods and Takakura might even know who this dog's owner might be if it had one. His fellow farmer was still working the fields when Jack caught sight of him.

"Oi! Takakura!" He called out. The older man looked up from his work. His eyes instantly went for the puppy following Jack.

"What's with the dog?" Takakura asked.

"I found him, her, whatever the thing is, up in the woods with a broken leg. Does anybody you know happen to be missing a puppy?" Takakura shook his head.

"Nope. Nobody in the valley owns a dog. Maybe in mineral town, I'll leave some posters and ask around next time I'm there."

"Okay, next question, is there a vet or something nearby? I'd like this little thing's leg checked out as soon as possible."

"Nah, we don't have a vet. But there is… oh, speak of the devil, Doctor Hardy!" Takakura waved and ran after somebody behind Jack. The new farmer turned around to see his mentor talking to the strangest doctor he had ever seen. For one thing, he wasn't wearing pants. He was walking around in just a doctor's coat and his boxers. He also couldn't tell if this guy had just come back from a comic convention where he had cosplayed a terminator because he appeared to have a robotic left eye.

This was the village doctor? Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing. But before he could even think to protest, Takakura was leading the odd doctor up the short path that led to the farm.

"And there is the dog." Takakura said to Dr. Hardy. The doctor's good eye landed squarely on the pup. Jack heard it whimper as the doc came closer. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't comfort it. He was a little unnerved as well.

"Oh, a broken leg?" The doc observed. "Doesn't look too difficult." He got close enough to examine the injury, much to the dismay of the frightened puppy. Jack backed up and motioned Takakura to come over.

"I thought you said the valley didn't have a vet?" He asked the older farmer.

"We don't, but Dr. Hardy has some experience treating animals as well as humans."

"You sure he's even a doctor? I mean, just look at him. One of my mom's old boyfriends dressed up like that for Halloween once."

"He's Ramona's personal doctor, so I'm sure he's good at what he does."

"Or he's a really good actor."

"I don't think so. He's always been a little odd, but I've seen him at work. The man is an actual doctor." Jack cast the doctor one more nervous glance.

"I think I'm gonna stay here, make sure he doesn't do anything to the pup."

"No you're not. You left me here for hours to keep our crops alive on my own. I think you owe me some work."

"But-"

"I'll drag you to the field if I have to." Jack hung his head in defeat.

"Fine, but only because I was being a jerk earlier, if something happens to the dog I'm kicking your ass." Takakura chuckled.

"Deal."

"I'm holding you to that."

"Good, come with me, let's get to work." Jack and Takakura set out for the fields, but Jack took one last look at the puppy being handled by the doctor. He had no idea why, but that dog felt so familiar to him. Like he'd been around all of the thing's life. Then, the pup made one quick glance in the direction of Jack, and the farmer's jaw dropped. He had no idea how, but the shade from the bush must have made the dog's eyes look different. Because right now, the dog was looking straight into his eyes with deep green eyes. The puppy looked away right as the doctor grabbed some tools out of his first aid kit. But Jack just stood where he was, unable to turn away from complete shock.

Then he felt Takakura's hand on his shoulder.

"Jack? You doing okay?" He asked. "You're not about to have a flashback right now are you?" Jack summoned the will to shake his head.

"No… I'm just designing the little guy's doghouse in my head."

"We don't know if he has an owner or not." Takakura reminded him. Jack just smiled to himself.

"He does now." The farmer turned around and went to work. The concerned gaze of his mentor watching over him. They worked together for two hours before Dr. Hardy came over and told them the good news.

"I'm no professional, but I think he's going to make a full recovery." The doctor told the two farmers. At his feet was the puppy, his tail wagging away a mile a minute.

"Well that's good." Said Takakura.

"Hey, I got a quick question for you." Jack said. "How old would you say he is?"

"Well, this is just a guess, but I'd say he's somewhere around five to seven months old."

"I thought so." Said Jack. The smile still plastered on his face.

"Jack?" Takakura said. "You are starting to creep me out."

"Oh, really? Sorry." He chuckled a little. "Hey, here's an idea. As an apology for ditching you earlier I'll finish up here if you get some dog food for the little guy?"

"Um, okay, sure." The older farmer set off to put away his tools, leaving Jack with the doctor.

"So doc, what do I owe you for helping the dog?"

"Nothing. I'm not legally certified to accept payment for treating animals." Was the answer.

"Good man." Jack said. "I knew a doctor before I came here. He taught me a few tricks to figure out if I was dealing with an actual doc or not. Grats, you passed."

"Um, thanks?" Hardy replid, sounding a little offended. "You could have just asked to see my credentials."

"I've seen too many forgeries in my time to really trust papers these days."

"You'll find no forgeries in this valley, I live in mineral town and even I know that." The doc picked up his kit. "Well, I'd better get going to Romana's before she takes this detour out of my check. Good luck, Jack wasn't it?"

"Jack Mitchelson. Good to meet you doc."

"Good to meet you too, Jack." The doc turned around and walked away, leaving Jack alone to finish the work.

Hours passed by before Takakura returned with the dog food and by that time, Jack had finished the work on the fields. But, much to Jack's annoyance, he didn't come back alone.

"He's soooooo cuuuuuuuute!" A squealing Muffy cried when she laid eyes on the puppy. The blonde rushed at the injured animal, who's only reply was a wagging tail and a few excited barks.

"Why is she here? You know I can't stand her don't you" Jack asked Takakura as Muffy played with the little dog. Takakura shrugged.

"She saw the dog food and followed me home like a lost puppy."

"That's the worst pun I've ever heard."

"I know, but yeah, she saw the bag of food and figured out you must have a new dog or something."

"Oh, great." He sighed.

"Hey!" The blonde called over from where she and the dog were. "You named him yet?" Jack smiled. Though he found the girl annoying, the smile on her face right now reminded him of a scene from his past. One of the few happy ones.

* * *

Nate, Redneck, Dan, and Jack stood shoulder to shoulder in salute. In front of them was Commander Norwood. Their new Superior Officer. He was a hard looking man with a large scar traveling across his nose. His head was completely shaven, and there was a look of cold determination in his eyes.

All around them, there was the usual hustle and bustle of an army base. Soldiers catching rays from the desert sun, playing sports, or running around doing errands for their superiors.

"At ease, gentlemen." Commander Norton said to the four soldiers. As one, the squad dropped their salute. "Welcome to firebase Sierra. You won't find it on any map because it doesn't exist." He looked to a woman standing next to him. "Lieutenant, show them around a bit." And with that he walked off. The woman he spoke to stepped up in front of them.

"I am 2nd lieutenant Isabelle franchez. I'm head of logistics here. I'm the person who determines what you eat and what your supplies are out in the field, so don't piss me off." Instantly, the entire squad looked at Redneck.

"What?"

"Speak to her and I'll shoot you." Said Jack. "I don't want to be eating pig slop for six months because you hit on her or something."

"Hey, I'm not that-"

"And then I'll shoot you too." Dan joined in.

"I know exactly where to hit you to make your heart stop." Nate said flatly.

"Really guys?" Said a dejected Redneck. The lieutenant laughed.

"Well, now I know which of you to avoid. Follow me, I'll take you to your barracks." The four troops grabbed their bags that they had dropped on the floor to salute the commander and followed Isabelle into a large rectangular building. The inside the barracks was lined with bunkbeds. Each bunk had a name listed on it. But the four troopers were distracted by something they hadn't seen for two weeks and thought they'd never see again. A black Labrador lay on the ground, it's green eyes had lit up when the four men entered and it's tail was wagging like crazy.

"Max!" They all shouted and ran over to the dog, who leapt to his fee to greet the four men that had been his family for months.

"What are you doing here, boy?" Jack asked. "I thought we left you back at firebase Peonix."

"You did." Isabelle spoke up. "Pets are shown to boost morale and help provide emotional support to soldiers who lost their comrades. So, here at Sierra, we bring in any pets that our soldiers have adopted before coming here, so long as they want to."

"Oh hell yeah we want to keep Max around. Don't we guys?" Said Redneck, who was giving Max a belly rub.

"But nobody ever asked us if we wanted to bring him here." Said Nate.

"Seargent, Johnathan Norwood gave his permission the day before he died." Suddenly, all was silent except the panting of the dog.

"So… Max is John's last gift to us." Dan said. A great big smile came over his face. "Best gift ever sarge!" He yelled, hugging his happy dog.

* * *

Jack couldn't help but smile at the scene playing out in front of him.

"Yeah, I got a name for him." He walked up to Muffy and the puppy, whose tounge was half hanging out of his mouth. "Don't I, Max?"

* * *

A/N: So here's chapter 4. I'm actually quite surprised how popular this story is turning out to be. I thought it wasn't going to do very well because it really isn't thought out all that much. Anyway, I do have some good news for you guys who are enjoying this story. I finally reached the point in my main story where I have been wanting to be for months and I'm taking a break to brainstorm the next arc, but in the meantime, all of my writing time will be devoted to Jack, so expect a lot more updates for the next few months.

See ya later!

I don't own harvest moon!


End file.
